History

Leon (standing) with his father and brother in front of
E.L. Bracket Lumber & Coal Company.

Whittier Wood Furniture is a family owned and operated business that,
for the past 35 years,
has handcrafted heritage-quality real wood furniture.
But the connection to wood goes back much farther.
For nearly 150 years our family has, in one way or another,
worked with wood.
And it’s this continued relationship combined with the
Whittier legacy of honesty, integrity and passion that are
evident in each and every piece of furniture we create
and pass on to you.

In the beginning

The Whittier wood legacy begins nearly 150 years ago when,
in 1867, Charles Whittier was hired by Uncle Ed Brackett
to manage the newly formed E.L. Brackett Lumber and Coal Company.
As the Farmington, Minnesota business grew, so did the Whittier family.
Charles’s son Leon often accompanied him to the worksite,
so when Leon graduated from high school, he followed his dad’s
footsteps and went to work at Brackett’s.
Soon thereafter, Leon was asked to manage the company’s
lumberyard in Castle Rock, Minnesota.

Building success

Early on, Leon showed an entrepreneurial side.
In 1921 he built a small space in one of the rear
lumber sheds at Brackett Lumber in Castle Rock and started the
Woodcraft Manufacturing Company.
In that small enclosure he built hayracks, screen doors,
footstools and even an outhouse for a local bank.
Six years later Brackett’s was sold, so Leon moved back
to Farmington where he found a warehouse large enough to
accommodate his growing business.
There, Leon built KD (knock-down or
ready-to-assemble) Oak drawing tables
for the Federal Art School.
In 1932, the company expanded by also manufacturing wood cabinets
and desks for Macy’s and other large department stores.

Great Lakes to Garden State

Woodcraft Manufacturing Company photograph
printed in a 1941 Farmington newspaper.

Because most of his larger customers were based in the East,
Leon opened a second Woodcraft Manufacturing Company in
New Jersey in 1938 and turned the management of the
Farmington, Minnesota plant over to Donald, his older brother.
Soon afterward, Leon and his family moved east as well.
By that time, sons Gordon and Bob were old enough to help out
with the family business after school and on weekends.
The boys soon realized that, along with being a great dad,
Leon also was an incredible mentor.
At the plant, Leon taught Gordon and Bob how to efficiently
rip a piece of lumber as well as balance the books.
More importantly, though, were the daily lessons on how to
interact with others.
In every instance, the sons saw their father treat people
with respect, honor and dignity.

Duty calls

The US officially entered WWII December 8, 1941.
Consequently, business, raw materials and able-bodied
employees were scarce so the Woodcraft plants shut down
for a few years.
At that time, most young men went into the service,
and the Whittier boys were no exception.
Bob entered the Coast Guard and Gordon joined the Navy.
Gordon wanted to become a pilot, but because he needed
glasses to correct for 20/20 vision, he wasn’t able
to travel that path.
Instead, good grades in math and science opened doors
to Purdue and Notre Dame where he learned how to teach
electrical engineering to Navy cadets.

It was a good year

1945 was cause for celebration.
WWII officially ended and Woodcraft resumed full scale operations.
Also that year, Gordon married Ginger, his high school sweetheart.
Like most newlyweds, they threw themselves into building their lives
and family.

On the Oregon Trail

The first plant that Whittier Molding occupied.

In 1946 and ’47, Leon, Donald and Bob traveled west
to purchase lumber.
During these trips, they discovered Oregon was the best place
to buy Ponderosa Pine, the main material used at their Woodcraft plants.
Also on these trips the men fell in love with the friendly people
and gorgeous wide-open spaces that defined the state.
So in 1952 Gordon and Bob moved to Redmond, Oregon and
opened Whittier Moldings, Inc.
The company produced moldings for the two Woodcraft plants and,
after establishing themselves, a growing number of other clients.
In 1953 Leon sold the New Jersey plant and a couple of years later
also moved to Redmond.

Planting Oregon roots

Gordon and Bob ran the Whittier Molding company as partners.
During the day they operated machinery and at night balanced the books.
One of their common goals was to rid the company of waste,
whether it involved time, motion, materials or money.
Gordon invented and patented several machines that
improved ways to work with wood.
One invention was an electronic lumber thickness gauge
that tripled production at their plant while cutting costs by 90%.
After it was patented, this particular gauge was widely accepted
and used extensively in the softwood lumber business.
The Whittiers were the first major producer of pine fingerjointed
moldings.
This tremendously improved the yield from the Knotty Pine lumber.
Another way the Whittiers reduced waste was by recycling materials
long before it became an accepted business practice.
Not only were they ahead of their time by recycling,
but they also believed in a progressive managerial style that
influenced everything in the company.
At the very heart of this system was the maxim,
“Treat others as you would have them treat you.”
They had faith that happy, satisfied workers helped create
better product, better work conditions and better customer service.

Pine away

Bob, Leon, and Gordon Whittier.

In the late ’60s, the times—and lumber business—they
were a-changing.
Most of the pine mills in central Oregon had merged with
the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company of Bend.
Whittier Molding soon followed, and Gordon and Bob went to work
for Brooks-Scanlon.
But the Whittier brothers never were suit-and-tie
corporate types, so after a while, both left to pursue other
career interests outside of the pine business.

Eugene beckons

By the early ’70s, two of Gordon and Ginger’s six children
had moved to Eugene, Oregon.
Longing to live closer to their kids and grandkids, Gordon and Ginger
relocated there as well.
Being an entrepreneur and not satisfied to sit still for long,
Gordon searched for an outlet for his boundless energy and
passion for wood.
He found it in a small but struggling manufacturing company that
made furniture components out of American Alder hardwood.
So in 1975, he purchased the business and Whittier Wood Products
was born.
Because he was a visionary and experienced lumberman,
Gordon could see that Alder’s beauty, fine grain and
ability to mimic more expensive woods made it an excellent
material to use in fine furniture.

Early Whittier Wood Products

Gordon hired his son-in-law, Evert Slijper,
and placed him in charge of sales.
Due to a lot of hard work and a couple of opportune encounters,
business blossomed from making chair components into
a Ready-to-Assemble (RTA)
and Ready-to-Finish (RTF) furniture manufacturing company.
At first, unfinished solid wood furniture stores made up
the bulk of Whittier’s customers.
But over time, their clients included most of the nation’s
major home improvement retailers and hardware stores.

The next generation

In 1980, Gordon’s son Scott joined the company.
Just as his dad had helped out at the New Jersey plant,
Scott pitched in where he was needed in Eugene.
And through the years, Scott also learned the daily ins and outs
of the business.
In the early 1990s, Gordon turned the family business over to
Scott and Evert.
It was a good decision, because thereafter, Gordon was free
to focus on his family and faith, two constants in his long,
rich life.
In 2005 he passed away peacefully, leaving a legacy of loving
memories and enduring values.

Carrying the tradition forward

Whittier Wood Products, Eugene, Oregon.

Even though Gordon is no longer with us, his vision of
offering real wood furniture to a wide audience is thriving.
In 2007, Whittier Wood Products launched a fine furniture line
under the Whittier Wood Furniture brand.
Today, including the RTA/RTF collections, our company
makes more than 500 models of furniture in two facilities.
Company headquarters, production and a distribution center
are located in Eugene, Oregon.
An additional facility is located in Vietnam with
state-of-the-art machinery, finishing equipment
and five loading docks.
Every operation is conducted in-house, giving us complete
control over all phases of manufacturing and quality.

Promises kept

Whittier Wood has grown quite a bit since its humble beginnings
in 1975 as an American Alder furniture component manufacturer.
Even though over the years Whittier Wood has changed and evolved,
one thing that has remained constant is the company’s
commitment to producing high quality real wood furniture.

As the Whittier family heritage of integrity, quality, honesty
and delivering on promises endures, Whittier Wood Furniture
continues to grow, adapt and change to best serve its customers.